Dawn of the Dead
United States
1978
126 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
Synopsis
George Romero’s 1978 follow-up to his classic Night of the Living Dead is quite terrifying and gory (those zombies do like the taste of living flesh). But in its own way, it is just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping mall to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewelry shops, making gourmet meals, etc. It is Romero’s take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film when all is said and done, and even some of Romero’s best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. –Tom Keogh
Director
George A. Romero
Born George Andrew Romero on February 4, 1940 in New York City. Romero was passionate about filmmaking from an early age. After attending Carnegie-Mellon University, he worked in the industrial film business making commercials and shorts. In 1968, he released his first full-length feature, a horror film called Night of the Living Dead. Shot in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the low-budget film soon reached cult status. Romero subsequently turned it into a trilogy with 1978’s Dawn of the Living Dead and 1985’s Day of the Dead.
Known for mobilizing tiny budgets to create unforgettable scare flicks, Romero also directed Creepshow (1980), Martin (1978) and the TV show Tales From the Darkside (1984-1986). Though the success of his Dead trilogy afforded him bigger budgets and higher profile actors, Romero failed to attain the same level of success later in his career.
Romero is married to actress Christine Forrest. They have three children. —bio.
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Displaying 4 of 26 wall posts.
agostinellips
2Sep12
Consumerism appears to be the actual evil. Zombies just want to kill the cravings.
Sunrise
8May12
While it is a female of the media and a minority police figure that resolve to "fight" to stay alive, not becoming part of the zombie "body," I can't forget the fact that they retain a "mind" that remains divorced from the 'body' of the masses. Departing the symbolic mall without a solution for reverence towards the dead suggests to me these two maintain a strange privilege they are neither able to escape nor bridge.
Rick Petaccio and 2 others like this
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Now in Theaters: "Survival of the Dead" (George A. Romero, Canada)
By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on May 28, 2010
The paradox of George Romero is that he is equally old-fashioned and forward-thinking; keen on the modern, thinking of it in classical terms
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Le quatre étoiles (ou presque) du genre
By Benoît on December 30, 2012
Tout ce qui existe aujourd’hui sur les zombies le doit énormément à George A. Romero, fondateur de ce genre assez particulier. Avec Zombie, le cinéaste propose d’enfermer des personnages dans une grande… read review
Still an important (zombie film) history lesson but works less well as a film as time goes by
By Henrik Schunk on January 14, 2012
Here we go, I am getting ready for the gallows. I did not really enjoy this film and do not think it is a good Zombie film. There you are.
First off, I do not like films which are full of self… read review
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Which Cut?
21 posts by 10 people
over 1 year ago